After a few days of lingering rain this week, Thanksgiving will kick off a stretch of clear and warm weather — though also breezy — across Southern California.
“We’re looking at temperatures warming each day by a few degrees; by the weekend we’re looking at highs in the lower to mid-70s,” said Ryan Kittell, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard. It will be “a very nice Thanksgiving through the weekend.”
The transition into a relatively weak Santa Ana wind event is driving the shift in weather. The offshore winds tend to drive warmer and drier conditions across the Southland, and typically bring an increased threat for wildfires.
But Kittell said the winds arriving Thursday are not expected to be very strong, and the recent rains from back-to-back wet systems — although light — helped ease such concerns. Less than an inch of rain fell across Southern California in the last week, though most areas recorded less than a half-inch.
“It’s enough to where it would buy us a few days where the fire weather threat is fairly low,” Kittell said. “We got enough to kind of slow things down a little bit.”
Wind gusts are forecast to reach 20 to 30 mph in most of the region, but some wind-prone corridors, such as the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, could see higher gusts. He said the breezy weather should really only be something to consider for those hosting outdoor Thanksgiving gatherings.
But, any wind can always elevate fire concerns, he said, especially when humidity is low and the rainy season has barely kicked off.
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Kittell said. “Anytime there’s wind, if a fire were to get started in the right spot, a fire can grow.”
